Name of the Project
Kola potash project.

Location
Sintoukola basin, Congo-Brazzaville.

Project Owner/s
Potash development company Kore Potash (97%).

Project Description
Once operational, the project is expected to be one of the lowest-cost muriate of potash (MoP) producers in the world. 

Kore Potash completed a definitive feasibility study (DFS) in 2019, in which it proposed a production estimate of 2.2-million tonnes a year of MoP. This is based on a mine life of 33 years comprising 23 production years, exploiting ore reserves of 152.4-million tonnes and 9.7-million tonnes of inferred mineral resources, and an additional ten production years exploiting 70-million tonnes of the remaining inferred mineral resources.

Total MoP production has decreased from 2.2-million tonnes a year in the 2019 DFS to 2.14-million tonnes a year in the 2022 optimisation study.

The optimisation study estimates a 31-year mine life, which includes 25 production years exploiting ore reserves of 152.4-million tonnes, together with 9.7-million tonnes of inferred mineral resources, and an additional six production years exploiting 49-million tons of the remaining inferred mineral resources.

The Kola orebody is planned to be mined using conventional underground mechanised methods, extracting the ore within ‘panels’ using continuous miner equipment of the drum-cutting type. Mine access will be provided through two 270-m-deep vertical shafts, each 8 m in diameter. The shafts will be sunk near the centre of the orebody.

Underground access will be provided through equipping the intake shaft with a hoist and cage system to transport persons and material.

The exhaust shaft will be equipped with a pocket lift conveyor system to continuously convey the mined-out ore to the surface.

Ore from underground will be transported to the process plant using a 24-km-long overland conveyor. A conventional potash flotation plant with a maximum design capacity of 2.24-million tons a year of MoP has been designed for the project. As a result of the low insolubles content, no separate process circuit will be required to extract insoluble material. The final MoP product will then be transported 11 km using a conveyor belt from the process plant to the marine export facility at the coast.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The 2022 optimisation study estimates an ungeared after-tax net present value (NPV), at a 10% discount rate, of $1.62-billion and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 20%, compared with an NPV, at a 10% discount rate, of $1.42-billion and an IRR of 17.2% in the DFS.

Capital Expenditure
Capital cost was reduced by $520-million to $1.83-billion on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis in the 2022 optimisation study, compared with the DFS capital cost of $2.35-billion on an equivalent EPC basis.

Planned Start/End Date
The construction is expected to take about 43 months with first production schedule for the first half of 2029. It has an estimated life-of-mine of 33 years.

Latest Developments
Kore Potash has conditionally raised about $10.1-million, before expenses, by way of a placing and direct subscriptions of new ordinary shares in the company at 1.7p a share with certain eligible existing shareholders, and new institutional and other investors.

It expects to raise a further $500 000 from chairperson David Hathorn once the company’s closed period ends.

Kore is in a closed period that restricts directors and senior management from trading in the company's shares pending the notification of the audited results for the year ended December 31, 2024.

The proceeds of the fundraise will be used for payment to PowerChina International Group for outstanding payments on optimisation work in 2022 and 2023, and the early works agreement; an environmental- and social-impact assessment update; advisory and legal costs; working capital; and fundraising costs.

The directors believe that the net proceeds of the fundraise will provide sufficient working capital for the company to implement its strategy for at least the next seven months, the company has said.

Kore signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Summit Consortium in April 2021 to arrange the full financing required for the construction of the Kola project.

This was followed by the execution of an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with PowerChina International Group in November 2024.

In line with the MoU and following the execution of the EPC contract, the financiers in the Summit Consortium are targeting the delivery of a nonbinding financing term sheet by March 31.This term sheet will be subject to the completion of detailed and definitive legal documentation.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Sepco (engineering, procurement and construction, with China ENFI being a subcontractor); Met-Chem DRA Global (mineral resource estimate); SRK Consulting (environmental- and social-impact assessment); and PowerChina International Group (EPC).

Contact Details for Project Information
Tavistock, on behalf of Kore Potash, tel +44 207 920 3150 or email kore@tavistock.co.uk.